Policy Development Process

Policy development for the DLC Solid-State Lighting QPL is a yearly process involving input from Members, stakeholders, and our Technical Committee. The DLC strives to be responsive to the constantly-evolving SSL market and ensure that updates serve the needs and interests of both our Member utilities and our many industry stakeholders equally.

See below for an illustration of the annual process that DLC undergoes to update categories and policies for the QPL:

Wish Lists

The DLC maintains unprioritized wish lists comprised of requests for new categories of products and new policies from DLC Members, manufacturers, and other stakeholders. These wish lists are used as a jumping-off point for our yearly policy development process.

Category Wish List

The category wish list is a running compilation of all the new product categories the DLC has been asked for at some point, in no particular hierarchy or order. The list is reviewed periodically to identify priorities for development. The DLC does not guarantee that any of the categories listed below will be developed or the timeframe for when they might be developed.

Policy Wish List

The policy wish list is a compilation of all new policies and updates to existing policies the DLC has been asked for at some point, in no particular hierarchy or order. The list is reviewed periodically to identify priorities for specification development. The DLC does not guarantee that any of the policies listed below will be developed or the timeframe for when they might be developed.

Updated July 2016.

Policies Requested

Performance under dimming
Policy to address the efficacy and/or power quality metrics of products in a dimmed state. A protocol and test methodology would need to be defined.

Policies for assessing luminaires without driver electronics integral to the luminaire
This development activity could theoretically cover several types of products all with similar issues that we have been prompted about in recent months. More granularly, these include:

Policies to assess/qualify products designed to operate on power-over-ethernet (PoE) systems

Policies to assess/qualify products designed to operate on other building-level DC distribution systems (DC-microgrids), such as systems covered by the Emerge Alliance, Redwood Systems, Powerhive, or other microgrids.

Policies to assess/qualify products that are “DC” products, where the manufacturers simply specify the characteristics of the power supply that they must be paired with, and which the customer purchases separately.

Improved options for assessing remote phosphor products
Policy to assess performance of remote phosphor products outside of current approach using LM-84 and TM-28, which are problematic due to length of time and costs for testing.

Testing of big products
Policy for a standardized approach for products that are too large to be tested in a gonio/sphere. Current approach is to handle on a case by case basis with a defined testing methodology from the laboratory/submitting manufacturer.

TM-30
Policy to require the inclusion of TM-30 metrics. Currently TM-30 metrics will be included as optional metrics with the release of V4.0 Technical Requirements. This effort would extend to setting requirements on TM-30 metrics.

Flicker
Policy to require products be tested according to the IEEE flicker standard.

Drive current testing
Policy to require LED drive current as a tested metric. This policy request was added back to the wish list on 12/7/15 based on lack of industry standard for testing.

Products with pre-set drivers to manage lumen depreciation over time so that the lumen output remains constant during product lifetime
Policy to allow for products with pre-set drivers to control lumen depreciation and testing approach to determine worst case configuration of product over the product’s lifetime.

Products with thermal fold back features
Develop more specific policies related to products that incorporate “thermal fold mechanisms”, which reduce power when critical components reach specific temperatures, and which are designed to keep the LEDs and/or electronics from overheating.

Policies Requested for Revision or Expanded Detail

Additional definition or clarification of flood/spot lighting vs. area lighting
Expand definitions to provide additional distinction between spot/flood lighting and area lighting. Currently addressed in an FAQ only.

Rules regarding aimable products
Expand policies around what is allowable on for aimable products in various categories, how these products must be assessed, and how they must be listed (especially in regards to ZLD). Currently addressed by FAQ only.

Lab accreditation
Policy to revise current DLC Testing Laboratory Requirements to only allow testing from independent, 1st-Party labs, or apply other accreditation and screening criteria.

TM-21-11 Addendum A
Policy to adopt TM-21-11 Addendum A and only allow LM-80 reports conducted in accordance with Addendum A and/or establish grace period for LM-80 reports conducted prior to Addendum A.

ANSI C78-377-2015
Policy to adopt ANSI C78-377-2015 which includes a lower nominal CCTs (2200K and 2500K) than the previous standard.

Strict rules on worst case testing for family grouping applications
Policy to dictate exactly what products based on the variables that affect performance need to be tested for worst case (i.e. the product with the fewest LEDs, lowest wattage, and lowest CCT must be tested for worst case light output). Policy would also include provisions for products tested that may not be worst case but are well above the requirements (i.e. if thermocouple is slightly off in the ISTMT, but the lumen maintenance projection at the selected thermocouple location is well above the lumen maintenance requirements). This policy was tabled during Sept 2015 prioritization.

Family grouping/listing variation rules
Policy to allow more variations that affect performance to be represented by placeholders to reduce the total number of listings in a Family Grouping application. Suggestions have included allowing for CCT, optics, and housing shape/size to be represented with wildcards. Policy was tabled during Sept 2015 prioritization until enhancements can be made to the search logic. Changes to housing size or shape that results in primarily aesthetic differences.

More specific rules regarding ambient temperature rating and testing
Policy to allow for provisions in meeting the lumen maintenance requirements if the product is tested at an ambient temperature above 25°c as well as rules that require certain product categories to be tested at an ambient temperature above 25°c.

Eligibility of luminaires employing removable-replaceable tubes
Policy to remove restriction of luminaires that employ removable/replaceable lamps as the light source. Policy was tabled during Phase I policy development after TC survey results.

Update/expand warranty rules
Policy to provide more detailed requirements in regards to what terms and conditions are included within a warranty document as well as requirements on the terms and conditions (i.e. set a minimum number of hours of operation for warranty to be valid). Policy tabled during 2015 policy development activities.

Lab policy to address issues with labs
Policy to be able to suspend and/or enforce consequences for laboratories with consistent issues. Issues with laboratories are currently tracked internally.

Rated data rules
Policy to better define how manufacturers can rate their product’s performance. Policy to include rules requiring rated data to be representative of the tested configuration (i.e. bare lamp data instead of in-fixture data, inclusion of ballast losses) and address whether rated data can be below tested performance.

Allowance for multiple LED suppliers/vendors
Policy to allow a given product to be manufacturers with multiple LED suppliers/vendors without designation in the model number to differentiate LED suppler/vendor.

Safety certification details
Policy to provide additional detail in regards to what UL standard a given product type must be certified to in order to be accepted by DLC. Currently, DLC relies on safety organization to determine appropriate standard given product type.

Allowance for multiple, unknown variation of LED types within a product
Policy to allow a given product to be manufactured with an unknown variation in LED type/supplier with the goal of maintaining performance despite LED combination. Have heard from at least two LED board manufacturers that “bin mixing” is a desired approach to maintaining demand. Difficulty is determining worst case when the variation in LED from board to board (or product to product) is unknown.